Mémorial ACTe

Museum - Pointe-à-Pitre

The Caribbean Slavery and Slave Trade Memorial Center (“Mémorial ACTe”), which opened to the public on July 7, 2015, is situated in Pointe-à-Pitre harbor on the site of the former Darboussier factory. The project was initiated by Victorin Lurel, president of the Regional Council, and the region of Guadeloupe, at the suggestion of the International Committee of Black Peoples (CIPN). The Memorial is dedicated to the collective memory of slavery and slave-trading, from a modern perspective. The foundation stone was laid on May 27, 2008 during the commemoration of the 160th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Guadeloupe. Its inauguration also marked the national commemoration of the abolition of slavery on May 10, 2015, in the presence of the French president, François Hollande, and several heads of state from African and Caribbean countries. With its daring architectural lines, this imposing building takes the form of silver roots covering a black granite box. The site occupies nearly 4,000 sq. m., and consists of a main building with 1,700 sq. m. of permanent exhibition space, 700 sq. m. of temporary exhibition space, a gourmet restaurant, a room reserved for genealogical research, a multimedia library, and an adjustable congress hall that can seat up to 400 people. Surrounding the main building is a 3,300 sq. m. square, incorporating a memorial space and walkway linking the buildings to Morne Mémoire (Memorial Hill), where a memorial garden, spread over a hectare of land to the southeast of the building, has been laid out with panoramic views.